For those who choose not to concentrate too hard on the nuances of media ownership, it may have come as a shock to learn last week that market rumours were circulating that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp was thinking of "buying" BSkyB. Surely it already owns Sky, doesn't it? Have the "dish resisters" been wasting their time with a futile anti-Murdoch protest? In terms of control, it is very much a Murdoch company, but this is 39% stake of equity. A feeble rise in BSkyB's share price reflected a rumour that News Corp would buy the 61% of the satellite broadcaster it does not already own and take the company private.

One sage in the City opined that this would only be credible if "they [News Corp] thought it was significantly undervalued and was about to enter a period of significant cash generation post investment in its broadband rollout". News Corp has thought that Sky shares have been "significantly undervalued" since they were at a vertiginous £25 a share in 2006. Often the markets are wrong about such rumours, but it would be unusual if News Corp was not thinking about how best to tackle the next five years – and whether the publicly traded market is necessarily the best place for its prized assets.

In fact the move makes perfect sense for News Corp. There is a bit more spring in the step of TV executives who are seeing the snowdrops of recovery emerging from below ground. Even the dourest forecasters have revised their TV advertising figures upwards; what was pencilled in by some to be a first quarter of minus 4% is now going to be plus 4%. That is a pretty big swing. Add to this the fact that banks are relaxing the lending strictures, and the status quo in broadcasting is unlikely to hold.

Ahead of digital switchover in 2012, all broadcasters need to get their houses in order for a new phase of industrial disruption. Smaller players such as Channel Five and possibly even Channel 4 have to think about merging or finding something to increase their size in the market. A recovering ITV begins to look like a more promising partner for someone. And Sky, which enjoys a challenge, is pitted not just against the commercial TV sector but also against the broadband and telephony markets where the strength of its offering has made it hard to beat.

Sky is the Royal Mint of west London with money pouring into every portal. In December its results showed half-year pre-tax profits of £400m and revenues of £2.8bn. These are incredible figures for a company that 20 years ago teetered on the brink of closure. Every so often News Corp does something surprising and audacious that causes the rest of the industry to draw breath very sharply. Murdoch's business is usually at its audacious best during times of electoral uncertainty, when any potentially annoying regulatory barriers could be moved.

Although there have been surprisingly few casualties in television so far, it is interesting to think about what Sky's piggy bank may go towards in the long term; supporting the newspaper assets is one possibility, although this is more likely to be a priority of Rupert Murdoch rather than James. Buying Elisabeth Murdoch's highly successful production company Shine is another. Picking up the UKTV television channels from Virgin Media could be yet another.

It is important for the future sustainability of the company as a family business that the most valuable assets are nailed down . Any transition period, such as a succession, will be made much smoother if the key businesses are private. As BSkyB enters its third decade, whatever its status in the market, its strength will be an inspiration and a worry to all.